Queerstories

Robyn Kennedy tells her tale of victory over the Sisters of Malevolence. Robyn has worked at senior levels in both the public and not for profit sector working across social and affordable housing, homelessness, Aboriginal housing, disability and health. Robyn is a proud 78er with a long history of involvement in LGBTIQ activism commencing in 1975 when she joined the Executive Committee of CAMP NSW. She was an active member of the Gay Task Force and is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of First Mardi Gras, a community not for profit association for 78ers. Robyn was elected to the Board of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in September 2017. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories

Patrick Lenton tells us a story in which he tries to throw a cool party for his friends and instead ends up interrogating the concept of masculinity. Patrick is a writer and author living in Sydney, Australia. He is a staff writer at pop-culture and entertainment publication Junkee.  He has a book of short stories called A Man Made Entirely of Bats, which the critics have called ‘odd’, and was shortlisted for the Most Underrated Book Award 2016. His book of comedic essays Uncle Hercules and Other Lies will be out in late 2018. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter And for gay stuff and insomnia rants fo

Peter Mitchell AKA Sister Mary Sit-On-My-Face reveals her adventures with the San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during the 1983 gay and Lesbian Freedom Parade. Peter came into this world in 1957 in metropolitan Sydney and spent his formative years between rural Maitland and industrial Newcastle. Now residing in Lismore in Bundajalung Country, he is the author of the poetry chapbook, The Scarlet Moment and crafts poetry, short fiction, memoir, literary criticism and a range of journalism. He has been awarded numerous awards, fellowships, residencies and grants the 2014 Dorothy Hewett Flagship Fellowship for Poetry and an Australia Council Artist with Disability grant.  Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookse

Alex Ward has a taste of what it would be like to be an only child. Turns out it tastes like revenge with more than a hint of defeat.  Alex is a Melbourne based stand-up comedian who has performed around the country, including at Brisbane and Melbourne International Comedy Festivals. Following a successful debut with sold out shows in 2017, Alex is excited to return to Melbourne International Comedy Festival with her 2018 show ‘Good, great’. When not performing stand-up, Alex is writing for Network 10’s The Project. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter And for gay stuff and insomnia rants fo

Kate Rowe reflects on her marriage to a dear friend. Kate worked in medical administration and is a fitness and health fanatic who went to her first Gay Games as a cyclist in New York in 1994. She went on to participate as an athlete, a volunteer and board member for 20 years. She is still is a triathlete hoping to qualify or the World Triathlon Championships in September. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter And for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow me - Maeve Marsden - on Twitter and Instagram.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-

Kelly Azizi talks about the shittier side of what makes up 'community'. Kelly is a writer whose field of interest includes the politics of ethno-cultural identity, the diaspora, and non-white feminism. In 2016, she completed her Master of Cultural Studies degree at the University of Sydney.Kelly plays an active role in Sydney's art community, and is an advocate for its cultural diversity and inclusiveness. She was the Gallery Administrator at 55 Sydenham Rd - an independent art space in Marrickville - from February 2017 up until its closure in May 2018. Kelly Azizi is featured in the Queerstories book which can be ordered on Booktopia. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, bec

Emily Wilkinson contemplates the consequences of getting what you wished for. Emily is someone you typically find behind the scenes. An IT sysadmin by day and a theatrical audio tech by night, both careers in which success is defined as no one noticing when she screws up. She writes short stories that she shows to no one, and has a blog with all its posts set to private. She has a fondness for non-gestational-lesbian-Mum jokes, despite not yet being a non-gestational-lesbian-Mum. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter And for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow me - Maeve Marsden - on Twitter and Instagram. &nb

Peter Taggart attempts to satisfy his curiosities in a rural heterosexual wasteland. Peter is a writer and podcaster from Brisbane. He was born on the glittering Gold Coast and raised in St George – a small farming township in southern Queensland.  Peter has written for Junkee, The Guardian, Meanjin and SBS, has hosted shows on 2SER/Star Observer Digital and 4ZzZ and has contributed to various programs on triple j and ABC Radio Brisbane. His podcasts include the popular Bring A Plate and less popular Clip Show. Peter is featured in the Queerstories book which can be ordered on Booktopia. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/l

David Abello shares stories about his dear friend, Paul Young. David was born in the inner-west of Sydney where he still lives. He became involved in the lesbian and gay movement in 1975 and in 1980s was a member of the Gay Liberation Quire and the Gaywaves Gay Radio Collective amongst other things. He's been active in the disability movement since the 1980s and in membership-based organisations concerned with employment, advocacy, multicultural advocacy and housing. In the late 1990s he was a founding member of the queer disability activist group, Access Plus – Spanning Identities. In the 1980s he worked in the Commonwealth Department of Employment and Education in Western Sydney as an Employment Counsellor and then became its state coordinator of disability employment. After 14 years he was retrenched which led to doing an Honours Degree in Arts and Social Sciences at UTS, and his next career as a social policy researcher at UNSW. After 12 years retrenchment propelled him into two simultaneous new car

In which Ben McLeay contemplates the worst thing that could possibly happen to him: rudeness. Ben is a Brisbane-based writer at Pedestrian.tv and co-host of political comedy podcast Boonta Vista Socialist Club. Ben is featured in the Queerstories book which can be ordered on Booktopia. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter And for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow me - Maeve Marsden - on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Deirdre Fidge tells us a story about fluttering and fear. Dee is a writer and social worker whose work has been featured in Archer magazine, Daily Life, SBS, ABC, Crikey and Junkee. Her writings on LGTBQ issues saw her shortlisted for Out for Australia's Role Model of the Year in 2017. She also authored a chapter in Doing It, an anthology of sex-positive stories written by women available through UQP. Dee's career highlight to date is being retweeted by John Stamos. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter And for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow me - Maeve Marsden - on Twitter and Instagram.  See omnystu

Davey Thompson shares his story of how an awkward, flamboyant gay Aboriginal met his ride-or-die-best-friend. Davey is an Inningai, Bidjara, Wakka Wakka and Gubbi Gubbi man from a small town named Barcaldine in Queensland. As a child, he wished to grow up and become Princess Leia, who taught him to strangle his oppressors with the very chains they put you in. He moved to Brisbane via Bundaberg to study at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, and has since worked behind the scenes for the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Circus Oz and Guesswork Television. Davey is also a writer, activist, host of Urban Dreaming on JOY 94.9 and MC of the Australian chapter of Cocoa Butter Club. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independe

Quinn Eades grew up in the Sydney lesbian community during the 70s and 80s, was assigned female at birth. He lived as a dyke for 25 years before becoming a transmasc person at the age of 41. This story is a tracery of his lesbian heritage, and a letter to all the lesbians he's loved before. Quinn Eades is a researcher, writer, and award-winning poet whose work lies at the nexus of feminist, queer and trans theories of the body, autobiography, poetry, and philosophy. Eades has been published nationally and internationally, and is the author of all the beginnings: a queer autobiography of the body, and Rallying. He won the 2017 Arts Queensland XYZ Award for Innovation in Spoken Word, and is currently working on a book-length collection of fragments written from the transitioning body, titled Transpositions. Quinn Eades is featured in the Queerstories book which can be ordered on Booktopia. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queers

Tarneen Onus-Williams has always been a scammer, but in 2018 she managed to scam the whole country. Tarneen is a Yigar Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, Bindal and Torres Strait Islander woman, passionate about decolonisation, resistance and young black people. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter And for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow me - Maeve Marsden - on Twitter and Instagram.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Karen Therese tells us a story about women. Part mystery, part documentary, part forensic investigation, Sleeplessness maps a remarkable Australian story. Karen is an interdisciplinary artist, creative producer and cultural leader. In 2010 Karen was awarded the inaugural Cultural Leadership Grant by The Australia Council to investigate innovative curatorial practices across diverse cultures and art forms, with a vision to embed her practice within Western Sydney. Since then Karen has created and produced significant works for the region. In 2013 Karen became the Artistic Director of Powerhouse Youth Theatre in Fairfield. Her works at PYT include ‘TRIBUNAL’, which you may have seen at the most recent Sydney Festival, ‘Women of Fairfield’, ‘Jump First, Ask Later’ Winner of the Helpmann Award for ‘Best Presentation for Children 2017’ and Winner of the 2016 Australian Dance Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Youth Dance’. Queerstories is an

Author Peter Polites remembers his visits to the Greek and Gay Group - GAGG. Peter Polites is a writer of Greek descent from Western Sydney. As part of the SWEATSHOP writers collective, Peter has written and performed his work all over Australia. Alongside SMH Best Young Novelists Luke Carman and Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Polites wrote and performed THREE JERKS - a spoken word piece about the Cronulla riots - to sellout crowds in Sydney and Melbourne. His novels Down the Hume and The Pillars are published by Hachette, and he is featured in the Queerstories book which can be ordered on Booktopia. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysi

Vonne Patiag takes a strange look at the behind the scenes drama during a short film production, involving voodoo shamans and a hate-criming pineapple. Vonne is a Writer and Director working in theatre and film. His most recent short film ‘Window’ had its World Premiere at St. Kilda Film Festival 2016 where it won Best Short Film in its category. It’s gone on to screen at festivals around the country. In 2015, his short film ‘Yang’ had its World Premiere at A Night Of Horror, Australia’s Leading Genre Film Festival and his short film ‘The Dead Man’s Face Was My Own’ won Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Editing at the Made In The West Film Festival. He was recently announced as a recipient of the Hot Shots Plus 2017 funding round from Screen Australia for his online series ‘Boy (Space) Friends’, focusing on issues of masculinity, racism and queer identity in Western Sydney, and he has just wrapped production on Tomgirl, a short film

Courtnery Thompson tells us a fictional tale of good wine and cheap life choices. Courtney won the ‘Queerstories’ prize as part of the Outstanding Short Story Competition. If you haven’t heard of Outstanding before, it’s an LGBTQI writing competition run by Robert Tait, Gail Hewison of Feminist Bookshop fame, and Teresa Savage, who among many accomplishments, is one of my mothers. So, I selected Courtney’s piece to be performed from loads of entries to the competition and here she is. Courtney is a creative writing student and chronic procrastinator at the University of New South Wales originally from rural NSW. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstorie

Candy Bowers writes a love letter to her black lesbian hero, Audre Lorde. Candy is an award-winning writer, actor, social activist, comedian and producer. The co-artistic director of Black Honey Company, Candy has pioneered a fierce sub-genre of hip hop theatre that delves into the heart of radical feminist dreaming. Born of multi-racial South African parents and raised in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, Candy studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). Since then she has gone on perform across the country and the world, and has appeared on the small screen in Newton’s Law (ABC/ Netflix), Tonightly with Tom Ballard (ABC) and The Katering Show (ABC/Netflix.) Her awards and accolades include the British Council of the Arts Realise Your Dream Award, Australia Council of the Arts Cultural Leadership Fellowship, Philip Parsons Young Playwright Award Short List, Melbourne Fringe Best Performance and Director’s Choice Award, Adelaide Fringe Youth Education Award and The Geoffrey Milne Memori

David Cunningham shines a light on the complicated relationship of having a fuckbuddy and the illusion of intimacy it creates. David is a writer/researcher on ABC TV's The Checkout, who occasionally plays large men in top hats, togas and so on when no one else is available. He was the runner up in the Raw National Stand-up Comedy Competition in 2008, and occasionally can be found doing stand-up around Sydney until it gets too much for his knees. For leisure, he is in his ninth year of not-quite-failing a history PhD about tensions in cultural representation of naval officers who were also members of parliament between the Glorious Revolution and the fall of the Walpole Ministry. He also lovingly tends royaldayout.tumblr.com, where members of the royal family are fondly miscaptioned. David Cunningham is featured in the Queerstories book which can be ordered on Booktopia. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates